The Best Thing for Bay Area Biotech: The Genentech Buyout

The Best Thing for Bay Area Biotech: The Genentech Buyout

From Ron Leuty/San Francisco Business Times (intro):

“The web of Genentech Inc. alumni is vast, intersecting and sought out by investors and biotech companies of all sizes.

Grab a “Genenexer” for your board of directors or land one for your executive ranks or your science team, then your company wins instant credibility. Media-types take notice and doors open at venture capital firms.

It wasn’t always like this, though. After Swiss drug giant Roche paid $47 billion in 2009 to buy the portion of Genentech that it didn’t already own, there seemed to be a lull in the entrepreneurial and scientific chutzpah that defined Genentech as a breeding ground for new, innovative companies that pushed biotech boundaries.”